THE GERMANY PROBLEM

What is happening there will soon be affecting us here unless we have political leaders who have the courage to stop it. Read on to see why. 

 The international press has maintained near-total silence on the escalating insanity of what is happening in Germany.

 
Media outlets that routinely celebrate German progress towards energy transition don’t want you to know that Europe’s dominant industrial power has entered a deeply destructive political and administrative spiral from which it may never recover. The fault lies with the self-defeating and unworkable energy policies that have a death grip not merely on the Scholz Government, but on the entire administrative state. Since completing the nuclear phase-out in the midst of an ongoing energy crisis and avoiding winter catastrophe thanks only to the accident of mild weather, our rulers are now forcing devastating changes to the so-called Gebäudeenergiegesetz, or the Building Energy Act, which regulates energy consumption in residential and commercial structures.

That sounds bland and boring, but it’s not. This latest turning of the screws aims to phase out traditional gas and oil heating by mandating that all new heating systems installed after 2024 use no less than 65% renewable energy. In most cases, this can only be achieved by installing electric-powered heat pumps. Particularly in the case of many older buildings, the associated renovation costs will prove catastrophic, and unless they’re drastically revised, the rules will simply upset the housing market and destroy a great deal of personal wealth. Nor does the grid have any hope of powering these new heat sources, now or in the future.
 
In the midst of growing alarm and the seeming futility of all opposition, even some German establishment media have begun to voice unease. On Friday, Der Spiegel (of all magazines) published a lengthy piece on the origins, funding and rise to power of the ‘Eco Network’ currently controlling German energy policy, and I want to discuss it in detail, because it is so revealing about so many things. It pulls together many separate threads, to show how policy behemoths originate and are set in motion in modern managerial states, and how they can remain impervious and even contrary to popular opinion even in allegedly democratic systems.

 
The Spiegel reporting takes a close look at the careers of several key characters behind the energy transition, among them the Green politician Rainer Baake, and Robert Habeck’s scandal-riddled right-hand man Patrick Graichen, who is the policy brains driving most of the current insanity.
 
"The rise of the environmentalists in the Ministry of Economics began a full decade ago. For a long time, the view was that the state should impose as few rules as possible on the corporate sector. … According to this logic, environmentalism and economic policy were seen as nearly mutually exclusive. It was not until 2013 that the dominance of free-market civil servants began to crumble.
 
At this time, Sigmar Gabriel of the SPD became Minister of Economics and appointed an unusual State-Secretary for Energy: Rainer Baake. … The move was a surprise, because Baake is not a Social Democrat, but a Green. … As State Secretary in the Ministry of the Environment … Baake helped orchestrate the first legislation on Germany’s nuclear phase-out. …
 
In 2012, Baake founded Agora Energiewende, probably the most influential think-tank advocating a carbon-neutral society in German politics. Patrick Graichen was at that time already Baake’s protegé. …"
 
As the old-guard industry-friendly civil servants in the German bureaucracy began to retire, Baake filled their posts with Green technocrats wherever possible, such that when control of the Ministry passed to the centre-Right CDU in 2018, the damage was done. The institutional momentum had already shifted towards climate change and begun to gather strength under its own power. The catchword for Baake’s political vision was the so-called ‘All Electric World’, one in which a grid powered entirely by renewables drives cars (electrical vehicles), heats buildings (heat pumps) and even powers industry (though here the solutions are much vaguer).
During his five-year tenure as State Secretary, Baake appointed Graichen to head the Agora think-tank, which began churning out policy papers, sponsoring Green scientific research andgathering an ever-growing crowd of loyal advocates and technocrats. This paid off:
 
Whenever energy and climate were discussed in Berlin [in the years after Baake’s resignation from the Ministry of Economics in 2018], Graichen’s name came up, often peddling unwieldy terms that only experts understand. The “merit order principle”, for example, or the “locked-in effect”. The red-haired man with the sonorous voice knew his way around this specialist world like no other. …

The ability appears to have come naturally to him. His mother worked in the Ministry of Development, his father for a while in the Ministry of Transport. He himself became involved in environmental issues as a schoolboy, initially in the youth organisation of BUND. In 1993, he began studying at the University of Heidelberg. In 1996, he joined the Green Party. In 2001, he became a consultant for international climate protection… and helped draft the Kyoto Protocol.

Graichen is straight from the German political establishment, and his was the first generation that saw significant Green penetration in the years around the turn of the millennium. We are witnessing the fruition of long-term environmentalist activism, stretching back to the 1970s.
 
Full post

FRACKING RESTART URGENT FOR UK

In this time of uncertainty amid threats to peace it is vital that the UK has all the fuel and energy options available hence the call to restart fracking:

 Net Zero Watch calls for emergency restart of fracking - Net Zero Watch

It is becoming increasingly clear that global warming is not an urgent threat, unlike the potential threat from Russia or China.

NEW STUDY APPEARS TO SHOW GLOBAL WARMING IS NOT CAUSED BY CO2

Here is an interesting paper which shows that the observed global warming is likely to be caused mainly by a reduction in cloud cover, with only a very small proportion caused by man made CO2.  

New Study: 90% Of Recent Warming Is From Shortwave Cloud Forcing…Humans Contributed 0.03°C (notrickszone.com)

LATEST IPCC REPORT FULL OF ERRORS AND BIAS

The IPCC ignored crucial peer-reviewed literature showing that normalised disaster losses have decreased since 1990 and that human mortality due to extreme weather has decreased by more than 95% since 1920. The IPCC, by cherry picking from the literature, drew the opposite conclusions, claiming increases in damage and mortality due to anthropogenic climate change. These are two important conclusions of the report The Frozen Climate Views of the IPCC, published by the Clintel Foundation.

 New Analysis Highlights Serious Errors And Bias In Latest IPCC Report | NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THAT (wordpress.com)

JET PLANES STILL FIT FOR THE FUTURE

 Ryanair has unveiled its biggest-ever aircraft order as one of its top executives said the switch to hydrogen or electric powered planes will not happen “in my lifetime”.

The budget carrier has agreed a $40bn (£31.7bn) deal with Boeing to buy 150 of the manufacturer’s 737 Max 10 jets with an option for a further 150.

The planes will be delivered by Boeing to Ryanair between 2027 and 2034 and be powered by conventional aircraft engines.

Neil Sorahan, Ryanair’s finance chief, who was in Washington to sign the landmark deal with Boeing, said that the deal was a clear sign of what the future held for commercial aviation.

The 51-year-old said: “They [hydrogen or electric powered planes] may be the future. But I’m not sure they will get there in my lifetime,” he said, before likening hydrogen jets to space rockets that carry a handful of passengers with huge tanks of fuel.

Unlike sustainable aviation fuel, made from used cooking oils and other waste, hydrogen was not a “drop-in solution” and would require “massive investment in the infrastructure”, he added.

“So I’m afraid it ain’t going to get there,” Mr Sorahan said. “Batteries don’t have the capacity at this stage to get the range that is needed.”

Full story

UK ENERGY 6TH MOST EXPENSIVE IN THE WORLD

 Fresh research has shown Britain has the sixth most expensive energy rates in the world

As the cost of living crisis rumbles on in the UK, households continue to be wary about their energy consumption.

Although the government extended its Energy Price Guarantee for homes until June, which brings the average energy bill to £2,500 a year, the cost is still eye-watering. Now, new research has revealed that Brits pay nearly twice the European average per kilowatt of energy.

Figures from The Underfloor Heating Store show that, at 39p per kilowatt, Britain has the sixth most expensive energy globally, after the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Benin, Denmark and Germany. On average, Europeans pay 23p per kilowatt of energy - almost half of what we pay in the UK.
 
Full post

TACKLE METHANE EMISSIONS FIRST

Satellite observations have revealed that two major fossil fuel fields in Turkmenistan are emitting vast quantities of methane – 4.4 million tonnes a year – which because methane is 80 times more potent than carbon dioxide means a global warming effect greater than that of the UK, and most other countries. 

So the answer to those who believe that we must reduce greenhouse gas emissions is surely to tackle these huge methane emissions. 

 Prioritise methane to tackle GHG emissions - Net Zero Watch

EVs ARE TOO HEAVY FOR CURRENT INFRASTRUCTURE

 In the UK, as many as 1 in 20 bridges may be too weak to handle the load. Perhaps it’s lucky then that there aren’t enough minerals in the world to make all those EV’s. If it takes us 200 years to dig up the copper required, that may give us time to rebuild the carparks and bridges.

Given the higher wear and tear from EV’s obviously their registration costs and licensing and some tax on charging should be more expensive than lighter normal fuel cars. Someone has to pay for the road damage and rebuilds.

A heavier “fuel tank” needs a heavier chassis to hold it. And a heavier car means heavier buildings and bridges for it to drive on, and all that means more concrete and steel and more emissions. 

So they are not so green after all.

CLIMATE CHANGE DISCUSSION WITH A READER

Today I looked at the stats for the blog and was amazed to find there were  over 7000 viewers for just today which is a record. The odd thing is that they were not reading my latest post. So what has made this sudden jump. Is it you, Dave? 

I am reproducing the post below, of a discussion I had with a reader back in October 2021. Any comments welcome.  

"MY OWN POSITION ON CLIMATE CHANGE"

 My position is that there is a modest amount of global warming, which, as the IPCC report says, is about 1.1 degrees C since around 1850, which was at the end of the Little Ice Age. (I don’t think anyone would think that this was an ideal climate!) Some of this warming is natural – most of that before 1950 and about half of that post 1950 is what scientists have estimated. So approximately half a degree C can be attributed to man. That is very modest and cannot by any means be called an emergency.     The problem is that politics has taken over from the science and this issue has now been captured by extremists, such as Extinction Rebellion and, unfortunately, the government has listened to these extremists and they are now fully embarking on a very costly policy of trying to eliminate fossil fuels, regardless of the fact that other major industrial nations, such as China and India, are increasing their fossil fuel usage which means our costly efforts will be wiped out.  Unilateral action is pointless, just as with nuclear disarmament.  

The language now being used is very extreme with terms like “climate emergency” being used as an everyday phrase.  It is the use of this extreme language, along with almost daily clips of extreme weather events on our main news channels which is designed to convince a sceptical public that the vast expense of decarbonisation (government estimate is £1.4 trillion up to 2050) is justified

Extreme weather has always occurred and the data show it has not increased in either severity or quantity when measured over the long term.   I am very concerned for the residents of the UK who will have to pay heavily for this and so I believe it is very important to speak up as a voice of reason.

My reader I Walker replied as follows:

Hi,

I'm struggling to follow your logic.

The IPCC report says "Human-induced global warming has already caused multiple observed changes in the climate system (high confidence). Changes include increases in both land and ocean temperatures, as well as more frequent heatwaves in most land regions (high confidence). There is also (high confidence) global warming has resulted in an increase in the frequency and duration of marine heatwaves. Further, there is substantial evidence that human-induced global warming has led to an increase in the frequency, intensity and/or amount of heavy precipitation events at the global scale (medium confidence), as well as an increased risk of drought in the Mediterranean region (medium confidence)."

This appears to contradict your opinion that there is no emergency. Are you contesting the credibility of the IPCC's report?

My resonse:

As I wrote, the global rise in temperature caused by humans is only about 0.5 degrees C. The rest is natural, so is it credible that this tiny change could cause the changes in climate being claimed? Also note that 1850 was the end of the Little Ice Age. If we go back to the Medieval Warm Period, there is good evidence that temperatures were warmer than today. For example Greenland was able to have a human settlement which farmed the land. It was then vacated as temperatures dropped. At several locations evidence of forests have been found beneath the retreating glaciers which have been dated as only a thousand years old. Again indicating higher temperatures within that time span. What you need to note is that the IPCC is a politicalz organisation, not an independent scientific body. What we have is a man-made emergency driven by political expediency.

Mr Walker replied again as follows:

The IPCC’s role is to analyse the science, they use levels of ‘confidence’ not shape it to a political ideology. In any case, NASA also agrees with the conclusions (that the rise in temperature is driven by man, not nature), as do most scientists. To suggest that the temperature rise is normal puts your opinion in opposing to mainstream scientific understanding. What qualification or credible source do you use to justify this position, other than your personal, subjective opinion?

1 October 2021 at 16:57

 

 Derek Tipp said...

My final response is below:

The IPCC's role is to identify and quantify the human role in changing the climate, which, unsurprisingly it does. - If it did not then it would not be justifying its existence. There can be no doubt that this subject has now become a highly political one and it is quite impossible to separate the science from the politics. The actual science proving that the temperature rise is mainly down to CO2 is very weak, as there are many other factors that are simply not understood. For example the role of clouds. Research into this is simply ignored because it throws doubt over the whole CO2 driven hypothesis. My views are shared by a number of highly qualified experts on the subject. You need to read more widely on the subject and get informed on the very credible alternative hypotheses. Have a look at the Global Warming Policy Foundation website.

CLIMATE SCEPTIC WINS COUNCIL SEAT

 Been rather busy lately standing in the New Forest District Council elections. Thankfully I was re-elected though quite a few of my Conservative colleagues were not. Clearly  there was a national  trend of anti Conservative feeling. For the first time three Green party councillors were elected. All the constant climate propaganda is playing right into their hands. It will be interesting to see whether they are willing to play a full sensible part in running the Council, or be a one track distraction.   

When I was Council Chairman in 2021 I was reported prominently in the local press for my sceptical views on climate change, see the link at the end of this post.

It seems that the public are willing to support candidates who set out sensible views which are in tune with the views of many of them. 

 Here is a link to the article which appeared in the print edition of the paper:

Senior NFDC Tories at odds over climate change urgency (advertiserandtimes.co.uk)

This post has been updated to give a good link. Thank you Dave for pointing out the deficiencies in the old link.

LONG LIVE THE KING

 Today we are crowning King Charles and we know that he is passionate about the environment. With the current obsession with climate change it should be a strong positive for him with the public. But  this is a very controversial area and the public can change its mind when climate policies start to affect their everyday loves in a negative way. For example organic farming may sound like a wonderful thing, working in harmony with nature, but when food becomes scarce and expensive because we stop using man made fertilisers and GM crops are banned the result in Sri Lańka was a disaster.  People were very angry ànd the economy crashed, the government fell and the  President had to flee the country. 

I like the New King and I wish him well, but he needs to be very careful wah he promotes.

EV's NOT A GOOD INVESTMENT

Yet another reason not to buy an electric vehicle. Those batteries are the problem, still very expensive with all those rare earth metals in them. I expect we will end up like Cuba with many of us still driving second-hand petrol and diesel vehicles long into the 21st century, until someone comes up with a really good answer to the battery problems.

 Electric cars losing value twice as fast as petrol vehicles – drivers may lose £25,000 | NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THAT (wordpress.com)

CLIMATE MODELS FAIL TO PREDICT OCEAN TEMPERATURE RISE

We are only just beginning to understand the role of the oceans in the world's climate. Something which the general public are not being told, as obviously it would undermine the political will to carry out the extreme measures needed to end the use of fossil fuels. The following link is to an article looking at the recent rise in ocean temperatures: 

 Rapid ocean temperature rise puzzles scientists - Net Zero Watch

One thing that scientists do not seem to do these days is state what the margins of error there are in the measurements, something that is crucial

A SENSIBLE LOOK AT SEA LEVEL AND COASTAL EROSION

Over at NALOPKT (Not A Lot etc.) they have some very interesting articles on the erosion of the English coast in Norfolk and the way in which it is now being attributed to "climate change", when the real reason is completely different. The problem for the climate alarmists is they seem to think that every environmental issue has only one cause. Something which can easily be debunked by looking a little more deeply at the real underlying cause. Scientists used to consider all aspects of a problem. Now most seem to simply blame climate change. 

 Norfolk’s “Climate Refugees” | NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THAT (wordpress.com)

Crumbling away – Is dredging the villain in the drama of Britain’s eroding coasts? | NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THAT (wordpress.com)

THE NOT SO BRIGHT FUTURE OF NET ZERO

It is amazing how the government continually pts out the idea that we will somehow achieve net zero by 2050 with just a few minor tweaks of our current lifestyle. That all we need to do is recycle a bit more and cut back a little on flying and driving. Below is a link to a report produced by a serious body which is given £5 million of government funding. 

This report seems to be letting the cat out of the bag when it says:  The future of construction should be based on stone, earth and timber, along with components “reused and repurposed” from demolition. Recycled steel, cement and bricks can be used, although this will be “constrained” – rationed might be a better word. In the Brecon Beacons, a new college called Black Mountains (BMC) is promoting its new climate breakdown university degree. One short course offered by this seat of learning is ‘Composting Toilets‘.    

"No Bricks, No Glass, No Cement" – What Net Zero 2050 Demands According to Government-Funded Report – The Daily Sceptic

This is surely suicidal for any democratically elected government to bring in. Once demand for construction materials is rationed in this way the economy will shrink and millions would become unemployed. People will surely vote out any government which brought these measures in, and yet so far there is no opposition party with any hope of forming a government which is offering to repeal the disastrous net zero policy.

HEAT PUMPS DEBATE - THE PROs AND CONs

Will the public accept the change from gas central heating to heat pumps? This is one of the vital changes which the government want to bring in to cut CO2 emissions in the home heating sector. The following article looks at the calculations of the capital and running costs. 

Are Heat Pumps Cheaper To Run? Don’t Believe Octopus! | NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THAT (wordpress.com)

THE PEOPLE ARE WAKING UP TO REALITY OVER NET ZERO

By Benny Peiser & Andrew Montford Daily Sceptic, 26th April 2023   

The Net Zero bandwagon was always going to grind to a halt when it bumped up against hard realities. As Abraham Lincoln observed, you can’t fool all of the people all of the time. To which the physicist Richard Feynman added the important rejoinder that you can’t fool nature either.

The eco-zealots in the think tanks, the civil service and the Green Blob have been trying to do both. Consider, for example, the oft-repeated claim that wind and solar power are cheap, which is demonstrably false, and carefully overlooks the fact that a renewables-dominated grid would require trillions of pounds of electricity storage to make it function without backup. As a result, we have seen gigawatts of wind and solar power installed, and the slow strangulation of investment in conventional energy sources. However, nature, refusing to be taken in by all the claims of ‘cheap renewables’, has responded with 20 years of relentless electricity price rises.

The silver lining to the very dark cloud of the Ukraine war and the energy cost crisis that followed is that most people now realise that a world with rising energy costs is not very pleasant at all. Others have been awakened, perhaps rather unexpectedly, by the Biden administration’s decision to launch its own Net Zero spending spree. It is rapidly becoming clear that this has the potential to turn into a disaster for the U.K.

Already unable to compete with the cheap energy and cheap labour of the Far East, many businesses are now having to face the reality that they will soon be unable to compete with the U.S. either, because of its abundance of cheap gas and its tidal wave of subsidies. Even companies that have been here for years are now thinking of upping sticks and crossing the Atlantic to take advantage of the green bonanza on offer. The U.K. and much of Europe are therefore facing an exodus of businesses, and a drying up of foreign direct investment. That could be catastrophic for the economy, and for Government finances already reeling from the pandemic.

The realities of Net Zero are also hitting home for the general public. The threat that the project represents to livelihoods and liberties is becoming more evident by the day. Recently, the mathematician Norman Fenton tweeted an excerpt from a Government-funded report that set out what Net Zero U.K. might look like: no airports, no shipping, no beef and lamb to eat, and most food imports eliminated. Sounds grim, doesn’t it? Lots of people thought so, and the tweet went viral, garnering over three million views.

The threat of being effectively locked into a 15-minute zone of a city has also concentrated minds. Anti-ULEZ protests are kicking off, and civil disobedience has followed in their wake, with cameras vandalised, bollards ripped out and barriers destroyed. Awareness of the threat of programmable digital currencies, which would allow the authorities to dictate your purchases (“No beef for you this week!”), is becoming more widespread too.

Seeing such policies alongside the restrictions on movement and lifestyle, and the ongoing censorship of criticism and opposition, many will conclude that climate catastrophism is simply the latest manifestation of mankind’s habitual tendency to totalitarianism. They are right to do so: green fanatics aspire to dictate every aspect of life, for you and everyone else in the world, just as the National Socialists and the Communist commissars tried to do.

So, as more and more of the impacts of Net Zero hit home, word of the economic and societal threat is spreading. Another surge in energy prices next winter or the winter after could prove the final straw for hundreds of thousands of businesses and the public alike. A small ray of hope is that in some parts of the world, the green cult is having to make compromises. The EU was recently forced by Germany to abandon its planned ban of combustion-engined cars. At the recent G7 meeting, ministers refused to set a date for the elimination of coal from the bloc’s energy systems, rolling back a pledge made at the Glasgow climate summit.

Yet most Western governments, including Mr. Sunak and his cabinet, remain almost entirely in thrall to green dogma. The reality is that far too many of them are Net Zero ideologues themselves, and far too many of the rest are cowed by the antics of the eco-zealots and the fulminations of their supporters in the mainstream media. We should expect no real change of direction under the current generation of ministers and MPs.

This inability to tackle the Net Zero cost crisis is almost certain to clear the way for Labour to sweep into power and to do… precisely nothing about the energy crisis. The damage being done to our economy and society will continue, and perhaps even accelerate.

But eventually a turning point will be reached, and the public, mugged by reality, will realise where the Establishment is taking them. They will look at the cold, dark, miserable Net Zero world that Norman Fenton described and will refuse to go any further. They will instead return to the path they have chosen in the past, the path to liberty and prosperity. The established political parties cannot see the inevitability of this reversal, but eventually they will have to accept it, and follow on behind, or face becoming irrelevant.

Benny Peiser and Andrew Montford are Director and Deputy Director of Net Zero Watch.

19,000 UNDERSEA VOLCANOES DISCOVERED

There is still much to discover about the oceans and yet the climate so-called experts think they know all the answers. Good science always needs to have an open mind.  See article below: 

Bingo front row, 19k undersea volcanoes "discovered" - CFACT

CAN WE TRUST OFFICIAL DATA?

 Most people would assume that they could quote from official data without any fear of it being inaccurate or incomplete. So it is a great shock to find out that this is quite wrong. Here is an example:

The Emergency Events Database (EM-DAT). EM-DAT contains essential core data on the occurrence and effects of over 22,000 mass disasters in the world from 1900 to the present day. The database is compiled from various sources, including UN agencies, non-governmental organisations, insurance companies, research institutes and press agencies.

Yet it failed to include one of the worst flooding events to affect the UK, the Great North Sea floods of 1953. This article has the details:

EM-DAT Miss The Great North Sea Floods Of 1953 | NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THAT (wordpress.com)

So we should not take anyone's word for it. 

CHINA POWERS AHEAD WITH INCREASED COAL

 Chinese provinces approved more new coal power plants in the first three months of this year than in all of 2021, as Beijing continues a rapid expansion of fossil fuel generation capacity in an effort to guarantee reliable electricity supplies.

Provincial governments gave the green light to at least 20.5 gigawatts of new coal in the first quarter, topping the 18.5 gigawatts for all of 2021, Greenpeace said in a new research report. Approvals began to soar last year, to at least 90.7 gigawatts, after a series of economy-crippling power shortages, according to the study.

Greenpeace’s report is the latest in a series of research findings and industry comments highlighting Beijing’s plan to rely on its mainstay fuel as a backstop for reliable and affordable power amid rising global fuel prices and the development of intermittent renewable generation. The government is also leaning on miners to boost coal output to record levels to avoid a reliance on foreign supplies.

“The 2022 coal boom has clearly continued into this year,” said Xie Wenwen, Greenpeace East Asia climate and energy campaigner. Reasons given by governments in approval documents included ensuring safe energy supply, meeting heating demand and stimulating local economic development, Xie said.

What a sensible policy.

SMART METERS TO RATION ELECTRICITY FROM 2024 IN GERMANY

I bet we are only a short way behind. Smart meters were always destined to be used for controlling our use of electricity. There is no way we will ever produce enough electricity to give everyone what they want. The future looks to be one of increasing control and rationing to deal with a "crisis" that has been made up by man, rather than man made.

 Big Brother: German Bundestag Approves Law To Accelerate Installation of Smart Meters (notrickszone.com)

CLIMATE CONTROLS GRADUALLY TIGHTEN

It would seem that climate change has been used as an excuse for some very authoritarian policies to be put forward. How much of this stuff will people put up with before protests spill out on to the streets I wonder. As a councillor myself I would never support such measures, and I am sure my fellow councillors would not either. But a few years ago I would have said that our council would never employ a full time climate change officer, and yet now we do. This stuff creeps up slowly and we are told that we must comply, as otherwise we will be "left behind", "become a pariah", "not get government grants".  

NYC Mayor to Cut Carbon Emissions by Cutting Off Food – Watts Up With That?

IT'S A CRAZY WORLD - YOU WOULD NOT BELIEVE THIS WAS POSSIBLE

 The article below looks at the way some organisations in the USA are behaving in connection with a number of minority issues. for example The FWS is offering paid leave to employees who attend “eco-anxiety” and “climate grief” training. And Employees can take as much paid time off as needed for diversity and “gay pride” programs and eco-anguish counseling.

What is going on? It appears that these organisations are focused on emotions and not facts. Read the whole article here: Your Taxes at Work: ‘Eco-Anxiety’ Counseling – Watts Up With That?

Is it not time that we asked these weak individuals to grow up, instead of pandering to them?

ARCTIC SEA ICE DECEPTION

Here is another example of a lack of balance in looking at climate issues.

 NASA Credibility Melting At 100% Per Decade | Real Climate Science

Science always considers all sides of an issue, whereas politics often tends towards one-sided propaganda.

SATELLITE DATA SHOWS UP CLIMATE MODEL FAILURE

The facts you will never see on the mainstream news bulletins. 

40 years of expert failure: New NOAA STAR satellite temperatures only show half the warming that climate models do « JoNova (joannenova.com.au)

The warming trend in the troposphere was only half of what the expert models predicted. 

Zou’s team notes that their findings “have strong implications for trends in climate model simulations and other observations” because the atmosphere has warmed at half the average rate predicted by climate models over the same period. They also note that their findings are “consistent with conclusions in McKitrick and Christy (2020),” namely that climate models have a pervasive global warming bias.

PETITION FOR A REFERENDUM ON NET ZERO

 Here is a link to the petition:

Hold a referendum on the 2050 Net Zero target - Petitions (parliament.uk)

HIDE THE DECLINE - A LESSON IN DECEIT

 Climategate Hide the Decline Backgrounder - Climate Discussion Nexus

This video recalls the deceit of the IPCC in pursuit of their agenda of climate alarm.

GREENHOUSE EFFECT IS DECLINING ACCORDING TO SCIENTIFIC STUDY

 It would appear that nothing is actually settled in the area of climate science. In the article, linked below, scientists have shown that, despite levels of CO2 increasing, the greenhouse effect has actually got weaker in the recent decades, in which case there must be some other explanation for the slight warming that has been recorded. Political leaders cannot work with uncertainty, so they cling to a certainty which simply does not exist in reality. How foolish this will all look when the coming decades prove the whole CO2/warming fad to be based on nothing more than guesswork. 

Here is the link: Earth’s Greenhouse Effect Has Not Been Enhanced, But Instead Its Impact Has Declined Since 1983 (notrickszone.com)

GROWTH IN TROPICAL ISLANDS IS QUITE REMARKABLE

 A remarkable discovery by scientists looking at the alleged sinking of tropical islands is that it is completely wrong. Read it here:

Tropical Paradise Islands Are Not Sinking And Shrinking…Most Are In Fact Growing! (notrickszone.com) 

So yet another climate myth bites the dust!

AUSTRALIAN WEATHER AGENCY (BOM) HIDES DATA

BOM stands for the Bureau of Meteorology. 

Why is it that these agencies seem determined to make life difficult for themselves by trying to conceal data. There was ample evidence of this in the leaked emails from a few years back, yet here we are again. Concealing and tampering are the hall mark of people pushing an agenda instead of the pursuit of scientific truth. Read it here:

Is Climate Change really caused by electronic thermometers? (The BOM don’t want Australians to see the data) « JoNova (joannenova.com.au)

CLIMATE -- NO NEED TO PANIC, IT'S MUCH BETTER THAN WE THOUGHT

Yes, it's true, there is no longer any need to panic over rapidly rising temperatures. The link below looks at the latest research by scientists at the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).  The new value for the warming trend in the mid-troposphere is now down to 0.09*C per decade, and remember the mid-troposphere is, according to greenhouse gas theory, supposed to be where we should expect to find the greatest amount of warming, the so-called "hot-spot".        

 NOAA Confirm UAH Tropospheric Temperature Trends | NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THAT (wordpress.com)

So we can all relax and enjoy the good weather and make sure we are prepared for the bad, just as we always have.

WHY WE SHOULD BE PESSIMISTIC ABOUT OUR FUTURE ENERGY SUPPLIES

The article below is by a university organisation that is keen to reach net zero. It is right with its prediction that the UK will be nowhere near ready to have enough electricity to cope. But they don't seem to realise that the government is only interested in getting through to the next election. Beyond that and it's someone else's problem.

Is Absolute Zero pessimistic about UK energy supplies? – UK FIRES

WHO ARE C40?

Below is part of an essay by Tony Lock. The whole essay is quite long and covers a lot of aspects of UK climate topics. In this passage he looks at a network of city mayors trying to force the pace and burnish their green credentials.

 One of the organizations which has been driving the green agenda, particularly in London, is C40: [[15]]. C40 is an international organization, which describes itself as “A global network of mayors taking urgent action to confront the climate crisis and create a future where everyone can thrive.” C40’s mission, so they say, “is to halve the emissions of its member cities within a decade, while improving equity, building resilience, and creating the conditions for everyone, everywhere to thrive.” Moreover: “C40 member cities earn their membership through action. C40’s most distinguishing feature is that it operates on performance-based requirements, not membership fees.”

And every year, they hold a world mayors’ summit, at which they gather and gab about forcing us to reduce our emissions, for example by making us walk or cycle instead of driving our cars. But not many of them actually walk or cycle from their homes to and from the mayors’ summit, do they? What a bunch of hypocrites.

C40 has, so its website says, been in existence since 2005. I retched when I found out the name of its founder: “Red Ken” Livingstone, former mayor of London. But in retrospect, I found it hardly surprising, since I already knew the identity of its chair, the current mayor of London, Sadiq Khan. Put Boris Johnson in between them, and you have three extremist green stooges in a row as mayors of London.

Read their website and find out about the huge list of backers from around the world. Here is a link:

Funders & Partners - C40 Cities

THE FREE MARKET IS DEAD

Nowhere in a modern democracy is there a truly free market, because the state has (quite rightly) introduced laws to control it, such as to ensure that what is sold is safe and fit for purpose and that workers rights are upheld. However businesses still had a reasonable degree of freedom to decide things like the type of heating and insulation used in their factories and offices, or the packaging of their products. but all that is now having to change under the guise of "climate change" and "net zero".  If a product produces CO2 in its manufacture then the government will try and tax it. 

So what we are seeing is that the interference is becoming so great that the market is completely distorted, which is leading to higher prices and reduced competition. See the good article in this link:

Net zero subsidies are a disaster for Britain | NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THAT (wordpress.com)

HEAT PUMP DISASTER LOOMS IN GERMANY

According to this article the Germans are even worse off than here in the UK:

 German Professor Warns Of Country’s Pending “Heat Pump Disaster”…”Saves No CO2″…Painful Costs (notrickszone.com)

CLIMATE STORM SET TO RUIN UK HIGH STREETS

It's not the weather that is causing all the damage, but government net zero policies, as the following piece explains:

 Net zero rules saddle high street with ‘disastrous’ £90bn upgrade bill | NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THAT (wordpress.com)

We are now finding that more and more rules and regulations are interfering and adding substantial costs on top of inflation. It is a perfect storm for our high street businesses, already facing the internet. I hope the government will decide to drop all this, but I doubt it. 

THE GROUP PUSHING OUT CLIMATE PROPAGANDA

 We all see climate change exaggeration being pushed out via the main TV news channels, but here is where a lot of these stories come from:

The Climate religion is so fragile they had to train hairdressers to keep the fantasy levitating « JoNova (joannenova.com.au)  

This is a religion in all but name and anyone who challenges it is portrayed as evil. It is the modern equivalent of tablets of stone which no one dares to challenge unless they become an outcast.

UK ENERGY BILLS ARE HIGH DUE TO GOVERNMENT TAXES

 Grant Shapps, the energy secretary, vowed to give Britain the “cheapest energy in Europe” as he set out to overhaul the power system as part of the push to go green.

For struggling households and businesses across Britain, the promise was doubtless a welcome one. But it was also a tacit admission that they have long been saddled with some of Europe's highest bills.

Industrialists including Sir Jim Ratcliffe have bemoaned the huge costs faced by energy intensive businesses, while households have been better off in a raft of countries on the Continent.
 
Data suggest this has had an outsized effect on the UK economy. Inflation in February was 10.4pc when energy prices were included, according to official statistics – but a much lower 7.6pc without them.
 
In the eurozone, inflation including energy bills was 8.5pc. But excluding them, it would actually have been higher than in Britain at 7.8pc.
 
A toxic combination of net zero charges and subsidies means that unfortunately for Shapps, there are few quick fixes if he wants to meet his goal.

Green levies
 
The energy bills households and businesses pay are split into two parts – for the gas that heats boilers, and the electricity that keeps the lights on. These are very different markets.
 
The price of each to the end consumer is made up of the wholesale price of the product, as well as fees and taxes lumped on top.

Wholesale electricity prices in Britain had been higher than much of Europe for several years before the energy crisis, in large part owing to a move away from coal in favour of less polluting but more expensive sources of power.
 
The UK introduced extra carbon taxes – fees paid by a polluter for every tonne of carbon dioxide they emit – in 2013, to push electricity generators away from coal. Meanwhile, in the European Union, the price paid for carbon fell.
 
It meant UK power generators paid an initial minimum £16 per tonne of carbon dioxide, encouraging them to swap coal-fired stations for lower-carbon natural gas, biomass, or move into wind power generation.

In the EU, carbon costs at one point fell as low as €2.75 (£2.41). Britain's higher charges have been a success in terms of cutting carbon emissions. The UK generated around 2pc of its electricity from coal in 2021, compared to about 30pc in Germany.
 
However, the extra carbon taxes have added to wholesale electricity prices as generators were forced to charge more to cover their costs.
 
For example, in 2021, average electricity wholesale prices in Britain were £113 per MWh, compared to €96 per MWh in Germany.
 
“Within Europe, wholesale prices have been more expensive in Britain basically because of the higher carbon price,” says Tom Smout, senior associate at Aurora Energy Research.
 
By the time electricity reaches the consumer, it also includes further levies on top of the wholesale price.

These levies account for about 8pc of today’s UK domestic electricity bills, according to analysis by the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit – equivalent to £131 per household.

The bulk of these costs have been spent on subsidising wind farms. There are also fees to insulate homes and help vulnerable households with their energy costs.
Britain has resisted calls to remove green levies despite the jump in overall bills.

In contrast, Germany scrapped a controversial renewable energy levy last year, a move expected to save the typical household an annual €200, with subsidies instead funded by public money.
 
Full story

NEW RESEARCH SHEDS MORE DOUBT ON EFFECT OF CO2 ON GW

 

New research into the global warming effect of ozone-depleting substances (ODS) confirms that they have played a much larger role in climate change that many previously supposed. This in turn means that the role of CO2 must be smaller than has been claimed.
 
The finding will require a reassessment of carbon dioxide’s pervasiveness in the climate debate, affecting current climate models and future predictions of global and regional temperature changes, especially in the Arctic.
 
The study in Geophysical Research Letters shows that the warming due to ODSs was more than half of that due to the greenhouse effect of carbon dioxide, that is a about one third of total anthropogenic warming in recent decades.This is because ODSs have been about 20% more effective than CO2 at causing global warming. In addition ODS warming peaks in the Arctic where it is estimated to be 66% of that due to carbon dioxide.

Ozone-depleting substances are chemicals developed in the 1920s and 1930s for use in refrigerators, spray cans and plastic foams. Their use increased rapidly in the 1950s and 1960s. Following the realisation of their devastating impact on the stratospheric ozone layer and the signing of the Montreal Protocol in the 1987 their phase-out is underway.
 
It is well known that ODSs are powerful greenhouse gases, estimated to have the second largest warming effect between 1955 and 2005 as reported in 2020 in Nature Climate Change. Building on this work is the aim of this research carried out by scientists from Canada, The United States, Britain and Austria.
 
Analysing all but one climate forcing factors they find that between 1955–2005 ODSs are responsible for 30% of global warming, 37% of Arctic warming, and 33% of summertime Arctic sea ice loss. In addition, they find that the impact of ODSs on global temperatures is about 20% larger than expected based on the impacts they have on the Earth’s radiative balance.
 
What is particularly surprising say the researchers is that ODSs have contributed considerably to Arctic warming and sea ice loss in the second half of the 20th century. This research adds to the evidence that ODSs have played a more significant role in historical climate change than appreciated.
 
Feedback: david.whitehouse@netzerowatch.com

NET ZERO SET TO FAIL SAYS NEW REPORT

 Of 44 policies encompassing about 85 percent of Defra’s proposed emissions savings, 21 were marked red or red/amber, indicating they will be hard to achieve. A further 18 were marked as amber or amber/green, and only five were marked green, two of which disappeared from the final “carbon budget delivery plan” document published last Thursday.

Read it here;

Net-zero: battle lines | Turbulent Times

GERMANS GIVING UP ON THE RENEWABLE DREAM

The truth is starting to emerge and the German people don't like what they see.

Germans Overwhelmingly Fed Up With Move To Green Energies As Massive Costs Loom (notrickszone.com)

As the government gears up to try to pass legislation that would force most homeowners to carry out extensive renovation to their homes and upgrades to their heating systems, the Energiewende is suddenly no longer looking like a bargain and is no longer welcome by the vast majority of Germans, according to a Forsa survey. The sun and wind don’t deliver energy for free after all.

FAREWELL TO LORD LAWSON

 We owe a great deal to Lord Lawson for his courage in speaking out against the climate change dogma. Not only that, he founded the Global Warming Policy Foundation (GWPF) and was able to attract a number of highly qualified scientists to join, thus becoming very influential. Today the GWPF is highly respected and widely used organisation.

See other tributes here:

Nigel Lawson (1932-2023) - The Global Warming Policy Foundation (thegwpf.org) 

WELCOME TO THE SOVIET-STYLE "PLANNED ECONOMY"

 It seems that the only way the population can be "persuaded" to follow the climate change policy is by the force of penalising taxes. Without this they would simply ignore the pleas of ministers. But how long will it be before these massive tax hikes cause outright dissent and French-style civil disobedience? Sadly there is no way these policies can be changed through the ballot box, since all main parties are signed up to the same disastrous course

Read the detail in the latest government announcement here;

Gas Boiler Manufacturers Face Fines For Missing Soviet Style Heat Pump Targets | NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THAT (wordpress.com)

BRITISH NET ZERO POLICY LOOKS LIKE SELF-HARM

 Experts and politicians warned that British rules due to take effect in 2030 are untenable following the European climbdown, which will allow internal combustion engines as long as they burn carbon-neutral petrol alternatives.

The European Union will now ban the sale of petrol and diesel cars from 2035 but permit these so-called e-fuels following a backroom compromise forced on it by the German authorities and signed off on Tuesday night.

The EU's e-fuel exemption will allow a synthetic alternative to petrol which is made by mixing carbon dioxide captured from the air with hydrogen obtained by splitting water molecules using renewable energy.

This is expected to be far more expensive than petrol, meaning it will initially benefit high-end carmakers whose customers will not be put off by the costs involved.

What a farce, the winners will be second-hand petrol and diesel cars!

ANTARCTIC ICE MASS TO GROW IN 21st CENTURY

No, this is not an April fools day headline, just one you didn't expect to see. However the study, using a computer programme (so not sure how much reliance can be placed on it), claims that the Antarctic will lock up sufficient extra ice in the 21st century to lower sea level 22mm by 2100 under a current energy use scenario. See here:

 Antarctic Ice Cap To Grow Despite Global Warming–New Study | NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THAT (wordpress.com)

NET ZERO THE CHINESE WAY

 While here in the UK we diligently and piously refuse to increase the extraction of our own oil and gas resources and blow up our coal-fired power stations, over in china they take a somewhat different approach. See here:

Saudi Aramco To Build $10 Billion Refinery And Petrochemical Complex In China | NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THAT (wordpress.com)

When the Chinese leadership say they will achieve net zero by 2060, I wonder why our leaders believe them?

WIND FARMS CASH IN AS THE PUBLIC LOSE

 Cheap electricity is part of a bygone age. It has been replaced by the net zero driven age of greedy wind farms who sign contracts promising us cheap electricity, only to renege in favour of charging the "market rate". What a rip-off! Read about it here:

Wind farms can simply ignore agreed contracts and cash in big time, FOI reveals  - Net Zero Watch

As we are forced to give up our gas boilers and our petrol cars, you can see how this is going. All our eggs are being forced into one expensive basket!

 

CARBON CAPTURE - "LIKE EXTRACTING SUNBEAMS FROM CUCUMBERS"

 Richard North writes an interesting article on the latest incarnation of carbon capture and storage;

Climate change: the onset of madness revisited | Turbulent Times

I like his style. He begins with a statement I have often thought myself:

"Future historians are going to have as much trouble understanding this age as contemporary authors have in dealing with the Salem witch trials."

Great stuff!

THE PEOPLE STRIKE BACK

 Apparently the residents of Greater London are fighting against the extension of the Ultra Low Emissions Zone being brought in by the Mayor, Sadiq Khan. Direct action in a variety of ways is taking place. I thought this would happen after Extinction Rebellion and other offshoots were treated so lightly by the police. This is just the beginning, I suspect. As the authorities clamp down more and more on our freedoms and push up the price of travel, heating etc. ever higher we will end up more like the French.

Read it all here:

Politics: direct action | Turbulent Times

NO GOVERNMENT PLAN TO USE HYDROGEN FOR HEATING?

 An article in the 20th March edition of The House magazine (for MPs) looks at how the government intends to "decarbonise" our heating system. There are two options being considered. One is to replace natural gas boilers with hydrogen gas versions and the other is to replace them with heat pumps.

The government's Energy Bill contains provisions for a new heat policy that will require boiler suppliers to sell a percentage of their output as heat pumps each year, much like the electric vehicle policy. This uses the salesmen to convince the public to buy them. This policy would push up the cost of gas boilers which would annoy the public when they found out, so it might not pass. If not, at present the government has no policy to roll out hydrogen so the article says, yet they are carrying out trials of hydrogen boilers right now. 

You can read the whole article, and the whole magazine online at this link:

The House Live | Politicshome.com

ENERGY PRICES TO REMAIN ARTIFICIALLY HIGH DUE TO GOVERNMENT POLICY

 I find it quite astonishing that the government is, on the one hand having to give subsidies to people and businesses because of the high price of electricity, while on the other hand they are themselves raising its price by adding extra charges to the producers. Why is this not being flagged up by the media? Why is no one questioning the minister? Here is an information-packed article from the great Paul Homewood: 

Will Offshore Wind Lower Energy Bills? | NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THAT (wordpress.com) 

By the way has anyone noticed the change of name of the former government department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) to the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ). When you think about it, these two aims (energy security and net zero) do not seem to be very compatible. If, by secure, we mean reliable, then increasing renewables like wind and solar which are at the mercy of the weather, are not the way to go. Of course if reaching net zero is your aim, then wind and solar are the way to go. Interestingly energy security comes first, something a government minister pointed out to me recently. Is this a subtle hint at a change of emphasis? We can only hope!